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Safety Barriers in Japan (Trains)

In Japan, train “accidents” occur very often. Japan often has the image that people kill themselves by throwing themselves in front of a fast moving train from the platform. I’m sure this happens at times but I don’t know how common it truly is. When people see that someone was hit by a train and the line is delayed, too often people say that someone decided to ruin their day by killing themselves. It is a bit insensitive and I actually believe this is only a fraction of what really happens. I usually think it is an inebriated person who either stumbled onto the tracks or was hit by the train because they weren’t paying attention. Recently, people have been hit by trains because they just weren’t paying attention. It is very common for people to walk close to the edge in order to get to their desired train car or to exit the station. In today’s world of dumbwalking, people are listening to music or something and are unable to really hear the trains coming. They are also busy texting, checking Facebook, or something else, so they don’t even see the train or the warnings that the train is coming. One of the simplest methods to prevent these types of accidents is to put up a safety barrier. When travelling to other countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore, there are barriers at almost every station. I was originally surprised by this and how Japan, a country touted as having excellent technology, has a terrible record of building platform barriers. Upon investigating this problem I have discovered the main reason this is a problem, but thankfully they have recently started to install barriers on some train lines.

Oedo Line Barriers

The Nanboku Line is one of the best examples of where barriers are used and used well. They have full floor to ceiling barriers. On the Oedo Line, it took well over 10 years since the opening of the line to install barriers. The new barriers are pretty good and will prevent people from accidentally falling onto the tracks. Other lines like the Marunouchi Line also followed suit but the JR Lines and many other lines have fallen behind. This is not due to the fact that the train companies don’t want to improve safety, and it isn’t due to the costs, at least not directly. The main reason they don’t install barriers is due to the logistics. There are a lot of universities that are testing new barriers in hopes to solve these problems. Many train lines in Tokyo connect with different lines and the trains used on the lines have doors in different positions. Some have 3 doors, others have 4. This problem has required the train companies to look into various inventive methods to create safety barriers for their platforms.

Yamanote Line Barrier

One of the coolest versions of safety barriers is one where the barriers physically shift around the platform. The barrier doors and walls shift around on the platform so that they are aligned correctly when the next train arrives. Another system created a “rod” or rope barrier where the rods shift up above the doors of the train when it arrives. This is interesting but not as safe as a full barrier. I can imagine someone, or some child, putting their hand around the rope just before it shifts up and getting injured, but something is better than nothing. The future of barrier technology in Japan will get better and you will see barriers at all train stations in Tokyo someday in the future. I just don’t believe it will be anytime soon but at least they are working on it. Installing barriers is better than when JR East installed blue lights at the ends of the platforms because it “helps calm people down so they don’t commit suicide”.

That is so interesting. Great video. Seibu shinjuku uses both 3 and 4-door trains so I always wondered how they would overcome that problem. But good for them. I think I like the sliding system the best.

Also this post reminded me about an article and video I saw the other day. http://nydn.us/QrtA0w (It’s kind of hilarious)

Nice article, thanks for sharing. As an amateur photographer who likes to take pics of the trains in Tokyo I actually prefer barrier free stations. It’s sad that there are accidents without the barriers but people will always find a way to become a statistic. I was shocked at the brazen attitude of pedestrians at the foot crossing path near Yoyogi Station. Even with barriers and clanging sounds people were crossing in front of trains.

I know what you mean about the barriers. I also find it hard to get good pics of the trains when there are barriers but it is a sign of the times. I’m actually surprised at how long it took for them to develop the technology but with millions of people using the station, and hundreds of thousands on the platform every day, I can understand why they want to make sure everything is perfect.

Regarding the crossing path, I think I know which one you are talking about. Well, actually I think there are about 2 or 3 of those crossings. I think people will always ignore the barriers if they think they can rush across in time. People are impatient and sometimes it does take a while to get through there.